“We want your followers to focus on what you share, not how many likes your posts get,”says Instagram on the basis of a recent report. “During this test, only the person who shares a post will see the total number of likes it gets.” Call it a trend alert, call it for or against, but this move took the social media marketing by a storm. As Instagram implemented its first round of tests on the platform, it was no more a surprise that it plans to remove the total number of likes from photos and videos. The account owner will have access to this information, as for others, you may only get to view a few names who have liked the photo. Instagram has mentioned its reason for the implemented test, which is to have its users focus on their pictures and the app instead of the number of likes. It has been observed that many users were deleting photos that don’t get “enough” likes. This has also led to define the mental health of several instagrammers. If reports from UK’s Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) and the Young Health Movement were to be believed it reveals how a culture has developed around the social media practice and obsession with the number of likes. Albeit, there are advantages of having the numbers show on a post such as self expression and community feeling. If we talk about some of the advantages of welcoming the new trend into social marketing business,

1. Not having to post for the sake of likes. Many of them have embraced the new Instagram hidden likes feature as they will no more post for the sake of likes, as it seems to seek for an external validation. This keeps them away from inculcating a low self-esteem, developing unreal expectations about lifestyles and self image which later accounts for severa mental illness cases every year.
2. Marketers and businesses still can gauge how well posts and accounts are performing. This will also bring in other more platforms in use to check in the performance, such as impressions, followers and comments, to determine engagement rate. This will lead to the creation of several content that will create authentic and interesting content.

Well, for the limitations of the trend,

1. Marketers are raged with the darkness of the new instagram hidden likes overshadowing the impressions and engagement. An elevated number of likes/comments/shares on a post will encourage others to engage with the post and the company, fathoming a smooth community interaction;

However, a great content strategy will let you have win over any given online space without facing any obstacles. To empower your position as a digital marketer choose Digipanda and let your business goals rife.